SMITE World Championships 2016 Semi-Finals Results

In today's semi-final matches, the top 4 NA and EU teams went head-to-head to earn a seat in the Grand Finals tomorrow. There was a serious upset as the reigning world champions, Cloud9, were unseated in this round.

Here are the highlights from today's semi-finals round:

Paradigm vs. Enemy

3-1, favor of Enemy

In this match, the NA dark horse team Enemy took on the top EU team, Paradigm. Paradigm got a 4-1 trade on Enemy early on, but Enemy quickly recovered and took the early lead. After landing a 3-0 wipe on Paradigm, they took the first Gold Fury. But Paradigm fought back, sacrificing one member for a 5 kill retaliation that helped them close the lead.

Paradigm went for the Fire Giant to take the advantage, but Enemy forced them out and took it for themselves, along with 2 kills. With a 12K gold and EXP lead, they bided their time and farmed the map until they could take the second Fire Giant. Paradigm had only toppled one map objective by the time Enemy breached their base and took the Titan.

Paradigm came back with a vengeance at the outset of Game 2, drawing first blood at less than a minute in. Their aggression was a little too risky, though, as they pushed a fight at the Gold Fury that cost them 3 members. It looked like Paradigm might be able to recover, though, because they nabbed the Gold Fury and took down the first tower at the 20 minute mark.

Not long after the first towner down, Enemy snuck an uncontested Gold Fury kill and a Tier 1 tower before Paradigm could react. Enemy closed the lead with a few key team fights and objective grabs. After a 4-1 scuffle in their favor, Enemy took the Fire Giant and headed toward Paradigm's base. After another 4-1 trade, they forewent the Phoenixes to go straight for the Titan kill and the Game 2 win.

Paradigm finally got a win on the board in Game 3. After they took first blood, Enemy tried to retaliate. But the few jabs they got in weren't enough to grab a solid lead. Paradigm kept taking map objectives until they pushed Enemy off the Gold Fury at 20 minutes, then took the Fire Giant uncontested just a few minutes later. Enemy got one more 3-0 trade on them, but it didn't stop Paradigm. They snowballed their lead until they took the base and their first victory of the match.

Game 4 was the deciding game for this match. Enemy took first blood, and Paradigm took the first tower. In a 3-1 scuffle, favor of Enemy, they took the Gold Fury while Paradigm claimed a Tier 1 to mitigate the advantage. Enemy snuck the Gold Fury at 25 minutes. A long dance near Paradigm's middle Phoenix eventually resulted in a 4-0 wipe in Enemy's favor, and they took the Fire Giant and a free Gold Fury. They used this lead to push hard into Paradigm's base, skipping the Phoenix kills to land the lethal final blow.

Paradigm was knocked out of the running for Worlds, and Enemy will move on to the Grand Finals tomorrow.

Cloud9 vs. Epsilon

3-2, favor of Epsilon

As the reigning world champions, Cloud9 was the clear favorite going into this match. But Epsilon challenged them in ways they've never encountered before, and they just weren't ready for it.

Epsilon started strong, with a quadra-kill for first blood. They took the early lead, and it looked like they would hold it from start to finish. But after shutting down a few key team fights, Cloud9 evened out the lead and started taking major objectives. The first Fire Giant and a Gold Fury fell to them. Epsilon tried to push back and got in a few good jabs, but Cloud9 took the second Fire Giant and used that momentum to secure their win.

Game 2 didn't go nearly as well for Cloud9. During picks & bans, Epsilon nabbed an imposing lineup that proved far too much for Cloud9. First blood went to Epsilon, and they gained a steady lead. With most of the map under their control, they were able to dominate Cloud9 in every encounter. After a few Gold Furies and a Fire Giant kill, Epsilon was unstoppable. They tore through the rest of map and ended the game with three times as many kills as Cloud9 -- a whopping 21-7. This got them on the board and evened out the match.

Cloud9 didn't want to go down so easily, so they fought back hard in Game 3. Epsilon took first blood with a double kill, and got a slight early lead. But at the 15 minute mark, Cloud9 grabbed the Gold Fury and took that lead for themselves. This snowballed as they began farming the map and putting a lot of pressure on Epsilon. They successfully took the Fire Giant, and put Epsilon in their place in every team fight. At Epsilon's base, Cloud9 nailed a 3-0 wipe and took the Titan down, earning them the match advantage.

Epsilon did not take kindly to their Game 3 defeat, and they came roaring back in Game 4. In typical EU fashion, they took the Gold Fury early on -- grabbing it at 4 minutes in, before they even drew first blood. With a considerable lead supporting them, they went for the Fire Giant. But Cloud9 did their best to stop them.

Epsilon came out on the winning end of most scuffles due to some serious dominance from Fenrir, but Cloud9 had heavy map control. But this wasn't enough to stop Epsilon from taking the Fire Giant at 25 minutes in. They rocketed ahead to a 17K gold and EXP lead, which made it easy for them to land a 3-0 wipe at Cloud9's base. This evened out the matched and forced it to Game 5.

After suffering so much at the hands of Fenrir in Game 4, everyone expected to see him banned immediately in Game 5. But Cloud9 inexplicably let him through -- a mistake that turned out to be fatal. Epsilon went into this game with a powerful lineup of Bellona, Geb, Sol, Medusa, and Fenrir.

First blood went to Epsilon once again, and they took an early lead that they didn't relinquish until the game was finished. After two 2-1 trades in their favor and a Tier objective grab, Epsilon had a healthy 6K gold and EXP lead at 17 minutes in.

Cloud9 tried to recover by forcing team fights, but Epsilon was just too much. A 3-1 trade and 4-0 wipe fell in Epsilon's favor, and they took the Fire Giant without a problem. Cloud9 had absolutely no map control, and didn't take a single objective the entire game. After another 4-0 wipe, Epsilon took Cloud9's Titan and knocked the reigning champs out of the running for another Worlds win.

Epsilon is moving on to face Enemy in the Grand Finals tomorrow.

Losing is tough. I feel bad. But if I have to lose, I'm glad I get to do it with my best friends. Here's hoping for next season.

Xbox One Invitational: EnvyUS vs. Eager

Game 1 was a landslide win for Envy. They took first blood, but the match was relatively uneventful from early to mid game. Envy nabbed a few kills here and there during scuffles, steadily earning themselves the lead. They made a quick push toward the 25 minute mark, and objectives started falling fast in Envy's favor. They closed out the game with a 17K EXP and 13K gold lead.

Envy took first blood and an early lead in Game 2, but once again the early and mid game was relatively uneventful. Tier 1 objectives didn't start falling until well past 20 minutes, and Envy was consistently shutting down scuffles. But Eager tried to close the advantage gap by farming the map and getting a few key kills. But Envy wasn't willing to give up their lead, tearing down Eager's defenses in team fights and putting lots of pressure in the mid lane.

Envy took the Fire Giant at 36 minutes in, putting them at about a 10K EXP/gold advantage. With more than double the kills on the board, they went for a hard split push to take down the last of Eager's defenses. Just past the 40 minute mark, Envy made their final push and wiped 3 Eager members before taking the Titan and the match with a 19-8 kill count.

Envy will move on to tomorrow's Grand Finals to face Cognitive Gaming.

What's Next

Tomorrow we'll be moving into the Grand Finals round, and we'll see the Grand Finals match of the Xbox One Invitational. All of tomorrow's matches will be best of 5. Here are the upcoming games for Sunday, January 10:

11:15 AM: Xbox One Grand Finals (EnvyUS vs. Cognitive)

3:45 PM: Enemy vs. Epsilon

To keep up with the action, you can watch the official stream on the SMITETwitch channel, or follow @SmitePro on Twitter. And stay tuned to GameSkinny for more updates as we continue to cover this event live from Atlanta!